The Hare
by AdaraHawthorn
Summary: Deep in the forests of Kolyma, Russia, a hare runs in fields of fire. Whilst Steve and the team are on a mission against HYDRA their paths cross in ways no one expected. *Eventual Steve x Reader/you* (#FirstFicDon'tHateMePls, #BadDescriptionButOhWell)
1. Chapter 1

**Welcome to my first fanfiction :) I've written this to be just before age of Ultron, and eventually it might continue into it depending on how I want to take it. Also, I am not fluent or study Russian language, so forgive my use of google translate if it is incorrect. This can be considered an eventual Steve x Reader but I've made it so the beginning of the story is more of an introduction of 'the reader' i.e. you XD I hope you enjoy reading :)**

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 **04:23am**

 **Kolyma, Russia**

 **HYDRA Genetic Engineering Research Facility**

Vapour left the mouth of Captain America as he knelt in the snow, hidden of sight by the bushes and tall trees surrounding the facility in front of him and the team behind him, minus Bruce who stayed with the quinjet a mile away in a clearing. Natasha followed Steve's action of hiding and knelt to Steve's right, quickly focusing her attention onto the hologram projecting from her gear, visualising the layout of the building in front of them. Tony, Thor and Clint lingered behind them, stepping quietly and laying low.

"What do you think, Nat?" Steve question whilst taking note of the process in front of him. Three guards were standing close to the loading bay, armed with rifles whilst two others transported large crates labelled with radioactive symbols from a military grade truck into the facility. Spotlights surveyed the clearing in front of them, causing the team to lower their heads slightly each time it passed their hiding spot.

"Well, according to this, there is vents but they're grated with tungsten, hard stuff to bust through. You could melt it, but even then, it'd take a while and with the patrol around the facility I wouldn't risk it."

Steve nodded, whilst shouting from in front of him brought to his attention the truck was now leaving, and the three guards resumed to their spots close to the gates. "Any other entry points?"

Nat nodded, and then looked ahead to the loading bay. Thor stepped forward and placed a hand on Steve's shoulder as he spoke. "Then let us begin, we must act quickly if the dangers within those walls are as we fear."

Tony's faceplate on his suit shut as he walked closer to the group, a blue hue emanating from the eyes of his mask. "What Pointbreak said, just get rid of the three stooges over there and boom, showtime."

Hawkeye stood in front of Tony's path at this point with a small scowl in his forehead. "We can't just go in all gun's blazing. You know what the mission is; incognito." Natasha stood and joined Clint with a hologram of Fury projecting from her gear on her wrist. The image plays as it replays the debrief a few hours before.

 _"_ _Avengers, the power readings of this area have been off the chart the past 2 months. We've also been keeping an eye on transports to this particular facility, and our readings show that 8 of them just this month have had levels of radioactivity in the cargo. The mission is to break into the building unseen, and establish what these guys are doing with all these resources. Report back and further action will be deliberated dependant on your findings. Violence is a last resort, I don't want the Russian Government asking me questions about fireworks. Good luck."_

Steve joined the circle to formulate a plan of action with the team. "We need to be clever with this. Clint, you take out those spotlights. Nat and I will take care of the patrol. Tony, Thor, you take care of-"

Steve was cut off when the bright white of the spotlights changed to a deep red, and a loud alarm emanated from the building.

"They saw us already?" Clint asked in confusion, readying his bow as he, Tony and Thor started walking to take care of the guards. "Wait."

Steve's voice halted them in their movements, and they all turned to face him with confusion. He looked at the three guards in front of the loading bay. At the sound of the alarm they looked at each other in confusion, while one of them were shouting into a walkie talkie. He couldn't make out most of the conversation as they spoke in Russian, though he did hear what sounded like "zyats" repeated a lot. They readied their guns and ran…towards the building. Natasha was watching also, and had a confused expression on her face. Steve turned to her, and asked what they were saying.

"An intruder's broke into the cells."

"Wait, what? Cells? And hey, there was an early bird? How'd they beat us to the pickings? Who is it?" Tony fired off questions, as his mask was opened again and his face held a disordered expression.

Steve looked forward again as the patrol and even more soldiers ran into the building with more, bigger guns and weapons. Shock sticks and even shields were being moved with more people into the building in a hurry, shouting and big crashes coming from inside the facility.

"Whoever it is, they're causing a lot of trouble for them." Clint spoke thoughtfully.

Steve nodded at this and stood, starting to make a brisk walk to the loading bay. "Avengers, move in. The plan of attack, is to attack. Take care of HYDRA's soldiers and whoever this newcomer is."

The team moved in Tony taking to the skies and Thor flying forward with Mjolnir towards a group of 5 who had started to notice the avenger's presence. Nat and Clint ran along with Steve, Nat exclaiming as they ran.

"We got a group coming in" Clint brought attention to the jeeps heading their way carrying 6 soldiers per vehicle. 4 jeeps rolled in, men jumping out and training their laser sights onto the avengers as Tony and Thor joined them. Steve grabbed his shield off of his back, Clint readied his bow, Natasha launchers her shock sticks, Tony raised his hand and Thor raised Mjolnir. "Let's go."

 _BANG_

A loud crash sounded behind the team, causing them all to slowly turn around after they noticed the soldiers in front of them tense and adjust their aim to behind them. The fortified solid steel door behind them had a bulging dent at the centre.

BANG

The dent grew bigger, screws and bolts flew from the panel while the group of soldiers behind them gasped and squabbled at the noise. Something is trying to get out. Steve told this to the team as he instructed them to turn slightly and readied their weapons for either direction.

"Заяц!" one of them shouted, recognising the word from earlier, Steve looked to Natasha who wore a confused expression as she translated unsteadily. "The hare?"

 _CRASH!_

The whole frame of the fortified gate flew forward, landing a few feet from the avengers. Shards of scrap metal shot forward and smoke drifted out from the now open door, creating a haunting glow from the red blaring alarms still being run in the building. Lines of red aimed forward towards the door, as HYDRA reinforcements shouted orders and a line of soldiers formed raising their rifles, shields and shock web launchers.

Captain America fully turned towards the door, eyeing a shadow moving through the smoke, the red lights flashing across the silhouette. The figure walked closer, until it walked slowly out from the facility, smoke floating around them as they moved.

The newcomer wore mid-calf brown combat boots, with rolled denim jeans leading up to a light blue blanket embroidered with silver leaves and flowers tied around their hips. With this is an army grade utility belt, with leather pockets and straps going over their broad shoulders. Their midriff is covered with a corset style armour made of thick leather, leading up to a pale-yellow ribbed jumper rolled to the sleeves. In their (Right/left) hand is a broad axe, a wooden handle wrapped in strips of black leather leading to an unscathed extremely sharp head. Their belt has 4 smaller hatchets, more worn from use than the axe, 2 looped onto each side of their waist. However, the main feature of this newcomer was their face…concealed by a wooden and chipped mask with a black veil at the back of their head.

The mask of a hare.

A shout of "Пожар!" was followed by intense gun fire.

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 _Заяц - The hare_

 _Пожар! - Fire!_

 **I've taken inspiration from the character, 'the Huntress' from the game Dead by Daylight for the 'reader's' character design, and I obviously don't own the character or the game. Here's an image but try to imagine it more, friendly I guess and minus the blood XD, I have made a few changes here and there and have thought of my own story for the character. Here's a link to a picture of 'the Huntress': .**

 **I hope you enjoyed the opening chapter to this story, reviews and constructive criticism is welcomed :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Here's part 2, I know this is going slow at the minute but the first 2 chapters are more like a prologue; an introduction of the reader in the marvel universe. Anyways, I hope you enjoy:)**

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 _"Пожар!"_

The sound of gunfire brought the teams attention back to the main threat of around two dozen men firing gunshots whilst they are in the field. Steve's shield was raised while he brought himself to a kneel, shielding himself from the gun fire. Tony took to the sky while firing down large clusters to disperse the line of men, while Thor brought down clashes of thunder into the group. Clint started to fire explosive arrows at the ground whilst he and Natasha ran for the cover of some trucks parked outside the bay.

When most of the clips had been depleted and they started to reload, Steve stood raising his arm holding the shield to his side before launching it towards the group, knocking down many with the force of the blow. Clint started to fire more arrows from the cover of the vehicle, while Natasha sprinted forward initiating hand to hand with a group of 5. Whilst the team were dealing with HYDRA's reinforcements, Steve slowly turned to the figure behind him. As he did he had a look of shock plastered on his face.

Dozens of bullets were frozen in mid-air inches from the newcomer, who had raised their head from their arms which were held in a defensive cross, an invisible wall obstructing them from hitting their target. It was then that Steve noticed a small hand being held in a way as if they were halting, and the figure's head emerged from their side in a timid manner. A girl, no older than 10 with matted blonde hair, ripped rags for clothing and tear stained cheeks lowered her hand, and with it came the clinks of metal hitting the ground. The girl turned their head towards the hare, who had taken a small step towards them with a hand slowly reaching to their shoulder, gloved fingertips grazing the skin. The girl looked up to the taller figure, craning her neck and nodding her head slightly before closing their eyes and kneeling onto the ground behind a crate to protect them. Steve then made eye contact with the hare.

The mask covered most of their facial features aside from their mouth and eyes. From the distance they were at, Steve couldn't make out their eyes, the look of a hollow doll, however their mouth was set in a stoic manner. They stood still, staring at Steve, before their head tilted slightly to the left, and before he could blink they had reached to their side and placed their axe into a loop, then pulled a hatchet loose from their belt. Their left hand was held in front of them, as if to aim, whilst their right reeled back the hatched with a bent elbow behind their head. Without his shield, Steve couldn't do much against a blade and held his arms in an X formation to lessen the blow, obstructing his view of the figure. A loud feminine grunt, a whishing sound and a dull thud was followed by a shout of pain, which brought Steve's attention to behind him where he saw a HYDRA grunt rolling on the floor a foot behind him with a hatchet embedded in their left calf.

He didn't have long to marvel at the accuracy before 3 more grunts made his way towards him. Steve raised his fists and started to fend them off, but in the distance, he noticed something which made him quickly want to alert his team.

"We got 2 sentries' coming up, 10 o'clock" At this point Steve had knocked the 3 grunts out, and grabbed his shield from the ground raising it in a defensive manner while 2 figures walked towards him and the team. The avengers had come closer together at this point, Tony doing so while firing at the heavily armoured soldiers while he flew. The sentries wore large, head-to-toe black armour which when hit with Tony's fire and Thor's lightning emitted a blue hue, and they continued to stagger forward seemingly unharmed. Loaded with machine guns and what looked like large knuckle dusters, they came to a stop and widened their stance. Raising the guns with both arms, the barrels started to whir and spin.

"What do we do, Cap?" Clint asked nervously, whilst realisation that their weaponry was useless against these particular enemies. Steve gritted his teeth nervously, raising his shield and throwing it violently towards the one on the left. Steve's shield hit the target directly in the chest, and rather than a blue hue was a red as the sentry recoiled front the hit dropping their gun to the floor and stepping back. The other however, was able to start firing.

The team braced themselves, with Thor and Tony in front to protect the more vulnerable members behind them. However, as gunfire continued, Steve couldn't here the sound of bullets whizzing past or the thud when they imbed themselves into flesh. He looked up to see the same invisible wall protecting the figure before blocking dozens of bullets as they continued to fire towards them. Before he could even look behind him to confirm it was the girls doing, a shadow jumped over the team's heads, causing them all to look up to the 'hare', around 25 feet in the air above them with their axe raised. Whilst the gunman was distracted, they were able to launch themselves to the left side of the gun, and with one swoop of the broad axe was able to completely cut the weapon in half. Sparks of orange came from the gun, as the grunt threw it haphazardly to the floor in panic and reeling back their knuckle duster clad hand. The swing did not hit the target, as with great speed the figure reeled their upper body back to dodge. Using the momentum from their dodge, the figure twisted their axe slightly and launched it into the grunts midsection using the side of the head, using brute force rather than a sharp edge. The air leaving the HYDRA agents lungs could be heard from where the team stood, and they were launched to the side of a tree from the force of the blow. A violent red hue flashed on the suit where it had been hit by the axe head before disappearing altogether when the grunt finally slumped in defeat.

The hare had turned slightly to look at the avengers with a long moment of silence before Steve nodded his head firmly in thanks, receiving a nod of acknowledgement back. The moment of peace and solidarity was quickly broken when the wall of bullets quickly fell to the snow-covered ground, and a small scream was heard. The hare's eyes widened, to the point where Steve noticed hues of (E/C) beneath the mask. Their mouth had changed from a firm line to a snarl before they bent their legs and launched around 40 foot into the air with axe raised high. The team looked behind them to see a team of HYDRA gunmen using electric cattle rods on the girl, causing her to shake wildly in pain, while 2 of them shot wildly in the air as the metallic glint of an axe was seen in the dark sky.

"Clint!" One shout from Steve was all it took for 2 arrows to land in the chests of the gunmen. Steve set into a firm sprint, followed by Natasha whilst the others handled the rest of the reinforcements in the clearing. The hare landed next to the group of men who were now trying to tie the immobile girl up with chains and cuffs, yet they staggered a few steps upon landing. Steve now noticed the blue denim of their jeans and pale yellow of their jumper blossoming with red stains, starting from their left thigh and right shoulder where a braid of (H/L) (H/C) lay. They quickly recovered, and with a yell brought down their axe to one of the men's legs, bringing him to the floor as he held his leg in pain staring at the large cut. The momentum of them swing however caused them to stagger further, and in the moment of instability one shock stick wielder was creeping behind and raising their weapon. Before they could hit however, Natasha launched forward and landed a kick on his chin, dazing him and allowing her to overpower the man to the ground. The hare moved quickly to kneel next to the girl, untying the blanket from her waist and wrapping it around her. Whilst this was happening Steve and Natasha were trying to disarm the grunts, as more started to come from behind.

The hare looked in different directions quickly, before raising themselves and lifting the blanket clad child with her legs around their waist and their hand gently placed against their head which was in the crook of their neck. They looked in between the forest line, the avengers fighting the grunts and the child in their arms. They turned to face Steve, who was punching a grunt to the ground, and looked up to see the hare. They stared for a moment, Steve able to see the (E/C) orbs again, before they set their mouth in a worried line and turned around to sprint to the forest.

"Wait!" Steve shouted after them as they ran faster, to a point where even Steve wouldn't be able to catch them running. More grunts came towards Steve, and he grit his teeth before shouting for Tony and Thor.

"Get them!" Tony launched his boosters and flew forward into the direction they went in the trees, followed closely by Thor who had spun Mjolnir and launched into the air.

Steve thought back to those eyes, full of worry for the child, as they ran to the forest carrying a bundle of blue blanket with bleeding wounds in their body. A wounded rabbit running from the wolves.

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 **Thank you for reading, I've placed a few clues in here if you look really closely ;) reviews and constructive criticism are appreciated :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**10:13am**

 **New York, USA**

 **SHIELD Helicarrier**

"What do you mean; they got away!?" Fury's voice echoed in the conference room whilst the team sat dejectedly in their seats. One eye stared them down sat they all sat uncomfortable with tight fists. All was silent, until Tony raised a finger and opened his mouth to speak.

"Well…"

Fury stared him down as he started, causing the Stark to quickly retract from his explanation and cross his arms, avoiding the burning stare of Fury. Beside him, Thor bellowed an answer.

"They were a might warrior, Sir Fury, with strength far greater than an average Midgardian."

"So, what you're telling me is: we have another Asgardian here?"

Shaking his head, Thor continued. "I myself have never seen this 'hare' prior to now; I do not believe they reside in Asgard. However, they did have qualities resembling, Rogers'"

At this, Fury closed his eyes and his head dropped. Heaving a sigh before stating his mind.

"An enhanced."

"I can support Thor's theory, sir." Bruce spoke up addressing the troubled man, who had raised his head at this. "What've you got, Banner?" He asked whilst straightening himself.

Bruce pulled out a tablet, and with a few clicks multiple moving images appeared in a projection, all showing the hare at certain points of time through the base' surveillance systems - which they managed to gather along with other information after clearing the base - and the Iron man suits camera. Bruce pointed to the first one, showing a repeat of when the door was burst open.

"Enhanced strength; a fortified door with three layers of 15-inch thick steel. Over a metre thick."

He pointed to the next one, showing a repeat of the hare jumping over the team to reach the group of HYDRA grunts surrounding the young girl.

"The strength in their thighs and calf's is extraordinary, I've calculated that the highest they jumped at this point was 42.3 feet, over seven times their own height. That's higher than Hulk can jump."

"Well, as much as I love fun fact Friday, can we talk about this." Tony interrupted before grabbing a steel case from his left side. Flipping the latches before raising the lid of the case and turning it.

Inside was a hatchet, a smooth wooden handle with strips of brown leather wrapped around it. The head of the weapon was a dull steel, tarnished with black burns and scathed with harsh cuts engraved into the metal. On the lid was shown a video of what appeared to be footage from Tony's suit, which played when Tony pressed a button.

The video played, showing a birds eye view of Tony flying over the forest at speeds, which in the corner of the video was shown to be 83 km an hour. From the dark foliage, the only sign of the hare was the blue blanket clung to their chests, as they ran matching the speed Tony was flying at. The blanket was suddenly gone from sight, causing the speedometer to lower as Tony tried to find his target again. "Jarvis, heat signa-" Before he could finish his sentence a silver glint flew from the forest trees towards Tony, and before he could move out of the way, it had embedded itself into the rocket on his left foot, causing him to lose his balance and have to lower to the ground. "Well, that's just great isn't it." Tony spoke as he dangled his leg, pulling out the hatchet and eying it in his hands, twisting the handle. "Thor, I lost 'em, and I'm grounded like an ostrich." Tony spoke into the intercom, before in the camera a flash of blonde hair and a red cape flew past him and forwards into the trees. A sigh could be heard before Tony started running to follow him, hearing grunts and yells coming from the direction. As he made it to the tree line, he saw Thor in the air raising his hammer with lighting encircling it, yelling as he flew, and the hare bracing themselves on the ground. Their knee's were separated, mouth set in a firm line, and axe held with both arms raising it to behind them. The suits camera quickly highlighted a bundle of blue a fair distance away, before the impact was seen. Hammer and axe collided, and with it came an aura of blue and a burst of energy big enough to launch Thor back into the sky, Tony a few metres behind him, and the hare into a tree. There was silence as the camera stayed still as it filmed up into the tree's, hinting to the rest of the team that the blast had knocked everyone out.

In the conference room, the team stayed silent, before Fury broke it. "They escaped at that point?"

"Yeah, must've slipped away with the kid when me and Thor was out."

The team stayed silent again, though there minds were far from silent. Each member had thoughts swirling in their head of this new 'threat', before each one spoke their mind slowly and cautiously. Clint started.

"Well, we know they have a great aim, in the clearing and through that you can tell they weren't aiming to kill, just down."

Natasha followed.

"And that they must've broken into that compound to save that kid, judging by how protective they were over them."

Then Bruce.

"They're an enhanced being with super strength and speed being the main attributes they've showcased. They could have many more."

Then Thor.

"A well thought and executed combat strategy with the courageousness of a fine warrior."

Then finally, Steve, who had remained silent with a deep set line set on his forehead in thought.

"As if that wasn't all of it."

A pause followed, allowing Steve to raise his head and address the whole team with an unreadable expression on his face.

"That axe is made of vibranium."

...

...

...

"and they broke my tech." The team turned with annoyed expressions to Tony who was acting more like a man child at this moment with arms crossed and a pout on his face.

"Avengers." Fury's deep baritone voice ended their mental squabble, raising their heads to meet the eye of the man with firm faces, awaiting their orders.

"Find that rabbit."

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 **I hope you got the clues about the axe :), if you didn't then I'll explain: in the avengers movie when Tony, Steve and Thor meet, Steve's shield and Thor's hammer meet and cause a big pulse of energy. Anyway, sorry for the delay for this chapter, things are starting to speed up now in this story and I hoped you enjoy reading it :)**


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